Ronnie Coleman bids farewell to the Mr. O stage, the place of the greatest triumphs.
After breaking nearly every bodybuilding record, with 26 pro contest wins including 8 Mr. Olympia titles, a height no man has gone beyond, 43-year-old Ronnie Coleman, arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time, is moving on to new hunting grounds. Just three days after leaving the Mr. Olympia stage for the last time, Coleman shared thoughts with FLEX in an exclusive interview about the final appearance and an incomparable career.
FLEX: When did you decide that it should end?
Ronnie Coleman: Right after the results of the 2006 Mr. Olympia were announced. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t win my 9th title.
What brought you back?
After the show, Lee Haney came backstage and talked to me. He said I should try again, that I should keep going, because I have a big future in this sport. I thought, OK, maybe I’ll give it one more try, but only one. After that I’d walk away from the Mr. Olympia stage. Nobody asked, so I kept it to myself. I was finally asked about it in a radio interview a couple of weeks before the contest. That’s when I said I was retiring.
Is the reason injuries, stress, or have you lost the drive to train at Olympia intensity?
None of those. Quite the opposite. The [2007 Mr. Olympia] prep was the hardest training period of my life. I’ve never trained like that before. I’ve never given so much of myself.
You had essentially decided to quit and then competed in the 2007 contest anyway. Was not winning devastating?
It was probably the biggest disappointment of my life, especially after all those wins, 8 in a row.
How did you come to the decision not to go after another title?
It’s about new goals, and it’s a decision I made right after the 2006 contest. It was never a question of not being able to carry on. Besides, I wasn’t exactly the whipping boy of the lineup this year either; I placed fourth, which is pretty respectable. It’s more like Lee Haney: he won 8 times and walked away, and Dorian Yates won 6 and quit. You just get tired of doing the same thing year after year. You reach a point where you want to do something different. That’s what I wanted. I’m ready. I’ve reached the point where Lee and Dorian were: I wanted to do something different, whether that’s other contests or going down another path.
Backstage after this year’s contest, your evening dragged on. You sat there alone in dead silence, an empty hall in front of you and nobody else around except the last stagehand taking down the final details. You were the very last person to leave. You just sat there, clearly melancholic, knowing this was it. What was going through your head at that moment?
I was reliving it all, all the years and memories. When you know it’s the last time you’ll do this, you just want to enjoy it as much as you possibly can. You want to cling to that reality so it doesn’t fade. I enjoyed being backstage at the Olympia, remembering all those years of being in the same place and winning all those titles. Backstage is where everything happens, at least in my opinion. It will never happen again, so I wanted to savor it. At one point I thought, why am I still here? I’d never stayed that long before. I’d better hurry up and leave before my chair gets taken away.
What now?
I’m still in the sport and doing demonstration appearances. Maybe I’ll compete in another contest if I feel like it; I like the Arnold contest or some of the European ones. Something smaller, not as big as the Olympia.
What will you do when you’re not competing?
Demonstrations and seminars, for as long as I can, because I have a lot of knowledge I can pass on to people. I want to stay in good shape permanently. I wouldn’t be 135kg and shredded, but something close. I want to keep promoting the sport.
Are you excited about the future?
Very excited. I’ve also been approached about promoting European contests. I’d love to do that too. I have a lot of fans in Europe, which many others can’t say.
What will your training look like in the future?
It’s my hobby, so I’ll train forever, until I die. That’s why I built a gym in my house. I didn’t build it just for the Olympia. In fact, I never trained at home before last year. I trained at MetroFlex. I built my gym because it’s my hobby, because I want to do this until I die, and I want it in my house so I don’t have to go anywhere else.
Tell us about it.
It has everything I need and everything I used at MetroFlex. I have treadmills, steppers, ellipticals, bikes, benches, a leg press, a power rack, ab machines, cable systems; I have it all. I even have some things that other gyms don’t have. I have everything you could find in the best gyms. I spent 150,000 dollars on the home gym. It cost more than my house, which cost 125,000 dollars. All the equipment is professional grade. The dumbbells start at 2kg and the heaviest are 90kg. Many gyms don’t have that kind of range. Anything you can name, I have it.
What is your best memory?
My first Mr. Olympia win. I’ve always said so. I won my first title when I wasn’t expecting it at all. That feeling is incomparable. The long standing ovations at this year’s (2007) contest were awesome, but nothing can top the first one, because it knocked me off my feet and because I never dreamed of winning Mr. O. It was so far out of reach. I started bodybuilding to get a free gym pass, not to win Mr. Olympia. Winning that contest was like winning 100 million dollars in the lottery. It’s not realistic to think it could ever happen to you. You do it for fun and for the thrill of the thought that there’s a chance you could win. Competing at the Olympia was that for me, too. I competed at the Olympia for the buzz; I wasn’t out to win. I didn’t think it was achievable, and when it happened I thought, wow! This isn’t really happening. It must be a dream. Even the second title was somewhat the same, but nothing beats the feeling of that first win.
What about the 8th Mr. O title?
There’s nothing special about it, nothing at all. It was just another one. It was a nice win, but once you’ve won that first one… they were all wonderful and great, the best things that have ever happened to me, but the first one, nothing comes close to it, nothing.
Do you think you could come back after a year or two and win the Mr. Olympia?
Probably not, not after a send-off like the one at the last contest. Boy, what a send-off that was. If it hadn’t happened, I might have thought about it, but coming back after a send-off like that would be hard. I mean, extremely hard.
Those standing ovations were some of the best things in my life. It was almost like winning my first title. I’d love to put that feeling into words, but I simply can’t express such lofty emotions. It was the same when I won my first title, because I didn’t expect it, especially with a full house like this year. I’ve never seen 7,000 people in the Mr. Olympia hall. I’ve competed as a pro for 17 years, taken part in the Mr. Olympia 15 times, and I’ve never seen a crowd like this one.
I hope it happens again, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. It took so long to fill the hall with that many people, and if you look at my fan mail, a lot of them came to see me. I got emails from all over the world, and they said they had tickets. I didn’t think many of them would show up, but they did. They weren’t lying about coming. They wanted to see me win title No. 9, at least most of them said so.
There’s a difference between promising to do something and actually doing it. I have friends, close ones, people I grew up with, who said, yeah, we’ll come and watch, but they never came. Actions speak louder than words. I believe it when I see it. I said that if this contest wasn’t sold out, those people had lied to me. When I was told it had sold out, I thought, huh, they weren’t lying after all. It was true. It was amazing.
You’ve seen how the contest has grown from your first win in New York to this year’s Las Vegas mega-event. Do you think that’s mainly down to you?
I’d bet my last penny on it.
Who’s the most memorable person you’ve met in this sport?
Lee Haney, by far. I’ll never forget the moment I met him. It was when he handed me the 4th-place trophy at the 1991 championships in Pittsburgh. I thought, wow, Lee Haney is handing me a trophy. The first time I spoke with him was backstage at the 1991 Mr. Olympia in Orlando, when I was helping Wayne DeMilia, the former head of the IFBB Pro Division, set up the stage. That’s how I got backstage, by helping build the stage. Lee chatted with me and I asked him for a photo together. Unfortunately, the photo didn’t come out. Still, it was one of the best encounters of my life in bodybuilding.
What was your best bodybuilding experience outside of competition?
In November 2000, I was a guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Jay Leno. I’d watched that show all my life, and the thought that I was actually on it was unbelievable. I don’t know how I pulled it off. Just being there, I was so thrilled that I thought I wouldn’t be able to talk at all, but there I was, talking like some real celebrity, on television with Jay Leno. I never saw Lee on the Tonight Show. The only reason I got on it was that I was a police officer. There has never been another Mr. O who worked a full-time job outside of bodybuilding the way I did. Most of the men in the top 10 have contracts [with supplement companies and magazines]. I had contracts too, but I still went to work full-time.
What was your biggest disappointment?
I’d say 4th place at this year’s Mr. Olympia, but all things considered, it still wasn’t a disappointment, thanks to the crowd. I think my retirement overshadowed Jay’s win. The first thunderous applause came during my mandatory poses. I could have placed 10th and been happy, thanks to that applause. It moved me so much that everything else faded away and I didn’t care about my placing. I was blown away, whoo, everybody’s standing and clapping.
That made you forget the disappointment?
I forgot all of it. Really. I didn’t even realize I was disappointed until three days later, but I can’t be disappointed about anything. That’s life. You know, my career has been so wonderful that I can’t say there’s been any disappointment in it. If I had to name something, it would be fourth place, but I truly have no disappointment. I’ve had the best career of all time. I think I’m the happiest bodybuilder. I’ve set all these records, I have the most wins as a pro, and I share first place for Mr. O titles, so no disappointment at all when you look at all those achievements.
What advice would you give to future bodybuilders?
Knowledge. Knowledge is power. If you have a strong understanding of the sport, you’ll go far. That’s how I won the Olympia, with knowledge.
Looking back to the time when you were delivering documents and pizzas, what would you change in your life?
Nothing. It’s been the most incredible journey you could imagine. I’ve always made the most of what life has brought me and earned respect. So everything has turned out well.
What legacy would you like to leave?
I wouldn’t want to say that everything I’ve set out to do is already done. People say I’m the best of all time, but I can’t say that myself; some things should be left for others to decide. Saying it myself would be too egotistical. But if I’m remembered as the best, that’s the only legacy I’d want to leave. When you’re the best at something, you’ve achieved it all. There’s nothing more you can do. You’re the best.
We’re going to miss you, Ronnie.
I’m going to miss it, I’m going to miss it a lot. Being in a position like this has been one of the most wonderful things in my life. I never could have predicted it, and I never even dreamed of it. I never had a dream of becoming Mr. Olympia. It wasn’t even a goal. It was like winning the lottery. I never thought it could happen, but if I could choose between winning the lottery or being Mr. O, I’d pick the latter, and I’ve won 8 of those titles. Nothing could be better than that. Having millions of fans around the world, having the kind of love and support I have, and being 8x Mr. O, it doesn’t get any better than that. I’m living in a dream world.
Author: Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and train! ArtGym
